Today:
1620: The Mayflower departed from Plymouth, England, carrying 102 passengers to the New World.
1810: Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla, a priest in Dolores, Mexico, delivered his famous “Grito de Dolores,” initiating Mexico’s War of Independence from Spain.
1893: The Cherokee Strip Land Run began in Oklahoma, where settlers on horseback and in wagons raced to claim plots of land.
1908: General Motors was founded in Flint, Michigan, by William C. Durant.
1920: A horse-drawn wagon exploded on Wall Street in New York City, killing 38 people in what is believed to have been an act of terrorism.
1940: President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Selective Training and Service Act, instituting the first peacetime military draft in the United States.
1963: The Federation of Malaysia was formed, uniting Malaya, Singapore, North Borneo (Sabah), and Sarawak.
1975: Papua New Guinea gained its independence from Australia.
1982: The Sabra and Shatila massacre began in Beirut, Lebanon, during the Lebanese Civil War.
1987: The Montreal Protocol, an international treaty designed to protect the ozone layer, was signed.